SC, thanks for the welcome and the link. I will check out your site!

 

This post is for all those who are wandering around this board and only reading negative comments about the Evo. The Evo is an unbelievable car with unimaginable capabilities. The more I drive it the more I like it. I have not had one problem with my car, or my dealership. I just want everyone who loves there Evo to post some good experience so there isnt such a negative response to the Evo's abilities because normally there is no reason to post unless there is a problem with your car.

 

that's good to hear but Damn, there have how many of these kinds of post lately......i think it's MERGE time

 

Thats weird i havent seen any other ones.

 

I stopped by Carlisle Mitsu in Roch, NY and spoke w/ a salesman. Was going to let me take it out tonight, but it was under 2 feet of snow So I got an appt at 12:00 tomarrow. I love the style, seats, everything. The make or break will be the gearbox and harshness of suspension. I'll post back my findings.

 

yeah, seeing a wrx change lanes in your rear view mirror so he can avoid the stop light showdown is what its all about.

 

I get mad props when people realize what I'm driving in. It doesn't happen all the time, but I also have the low spoiler so the only people who recognize it are people who really know the car.

I have had zero problems with mine, and I have a great relationship with my dealer. Partly because I only asked for MSRP and didn't try to low ball him. That's just me though. I think it's great that people have gotten great deals on these cars. Hell anyone with the good taste to buy an Evo is all good to me.

 

What 3k said.

 

i dont know about u guys... but i paid 31,000 without tax

it was 35,000 with tax


the 31,000 includes sunroof and rear spoiler... plus some 500 dollar shipping fee from japan or something... i forgot what it was called exactly but it was for shipping or something... or some kind of handling fee...

anywayz i just dont know how some of u get it at msrp... when msrp does not include ur rear spoiler or sunroof... well maybe its just california that includes it ??? i dunno....

 

NW is not taxed? come buy a car in washington and deal with sales tax AND some stupid licensing fees that are outrageous. i had to pay 1300 bucks alone in just taxes on my OZ.

 

I bought mine at just over invoice, had a pretty good sales experience, and haven't had any trouble with my car. Oh ya, and the clutch isn't even in question, seems as strong as any.

 

If you paid $1300 in taxes and if you were in Texas that would mean your OZ cost about $19,700 before taxes, fees etc. and total drive out would have been about $21,250. Tax on the typical OZ purchase in Texas is about $900 so doing it the way Rubelcon et al do it would yield a $400 error in tax alone.

The final error would be maybe $500-600. Now I go to negotiate one using the worthless bottom line info from somewhere else and my local dealer is happy to make my deal because I'm asking for something $500-600 higher than I may need to. He sees that much extra gross and gives me my deal.

Thanks a whole lot all you OTD posters for helping screw me out of what to me is a lot of money. That's why people should only post the top line figure or selling price not the bottom line figure or out the door price.

 

ya that happens alot...isnt it great, lol

 

I just bought mine last month, I picked it up used with 6000 miles both options and 6 disc CD changer for 26K... an amazing deal I couldn't pass up. I love it!!! I can't believe how much mitsu has improved the 4G63 platform, and the handling is unreal. The only problem is this summer I'm not sure what I'll be driving my Talon or my EVO?

Because of the snow I've only been driving it over the weekends, and last weekend I got my first ticket in it.... LOL

 

I purchased my Evo in late September, and this past week I just hit 10,000 miles on the odometer. I'd like to share my experiences with some of the members here.

First of all, my evo is a daily driver which i commute to and from work in sunny southern california. The distance to work is about 20 miles, and also make several 100mile trips (one way) to our other locations.

I don't get much attention in the car, and police rarely look twice at me when I cruise by. (weightless white).

Ride:
I feel that the stock suspension is very smooth, and has an extremely tight feel to it. For a stock car, it handles amazingly well. The only performance mod I have on my car is a set of JIC FLT-A2's custom tuned by Road Race Engineering. They use custom spring rates and shock settings. All I have to say is holy **** it handles nice. However, with high performance there is a trade off in comfort. The ride is very stiff, and on bad or bumpy roads it is not for the weak stomached. On the streets it is perfect....the bumpiness i experience is from freeway driving only. This however, can all be mitigated by adjusting damper levels and tire pressures.


Paint:
The paint on the car is definitely thinner than some other cars. I noticed while detailing my car, and then detailing my friends Integra (both white) that his paint has a much thicker look to it.

With that being said, I have had NO problems with my paint. I have 1 very very small chip on my hood that I got within the first 2 weeks of owning the car and that's it. I garage my car everynight, and I wash it about twice a month. I have been using Zaino car wash and polish, and the results are excellent. My paint is silky smooth, and I have no problems with any staining or swirls. I use cloth wash sponges to wash, and microfiber towels to dry and buff out the zaino. I recently just bought the Mr. Clean Autowash, which supposedly allows your car to dry spotlessly without drying by hand. (I haven't tried it yet). The rear trunk/bumper area gets very dirty, probably due to the aerodynamics of the car. I have a California duster, and I just dust it off every night I get home. I noticed that this keeps my car much cleaner, and I can get away with washing it every other week as opposed to every week. Overall I am very happy with the paint.

Brakes:
I have the stock Brembos, and they do squeak once in a while, but it's not too bad. They make noise once every 25-50 miles or so. I did want to bed them in properly, but I didn't have any place to do it, so I just try not to keep the brake depressed after hard braking. I haven't noticed any juddering or shaking from braking on the freeway either.

Clutch and Engine:
I have been driving since 1997, and I have about 160K miles of driving experience. My previous and only car was a 1997 Toyota Corolla 3speed automatic. The month before I bought the evo, I learned how to drive stick on my friends GSR with a clutchmasters stage II clutch. When I test drove the evo (5 days before I bought it) I stalled 3 times. haha... I did notice that the with the test evo I drove, I could smell the clutch from just easy driving. I'm not too sure if it was due to my n00b shifting skills, or that the car had been beaten up in the past.

Once I picked up my car, (with 17 miles on it from a diff dealer) I drove it very gingerly, I wanted to break it in properly, and to get more comfortable driving stick. I stalled maybe once or twice in a parking lot while reversing, but that was it. I have replaced the stock shift knob with a GReddy counterweighted shift knob, and this has made the shifts much smoother. 5th gear is also much easier to get into.

My break in process was as follows:
First 500 miles: under 3k RPM. NO BOOST.
500-750: took it up to 400 RPM.
750-1000: 4500 RPM
1000-1500: 5500 RPM
1500 - Now: WOT 7200 RPM!

After 10K miles of driving, and about 3 launches, I have NO PROBLEMS with my clutch. It holds just as well as the day I bought it. The three launches I did do however, sucked really bad, and after 1 bad 6k launch, I could smell my clutch for 2 days. It also felt "glazed over" and would slip for about 24 hours. It has been running fine ever since. I do agree that the current clutch setup is not very optimal for drag type launches, but for everyday driving, canyon runs, and heel toe style hard corners, it is just fine.

Problems:
The only issue I have had with the car is the P0300 misfire code. The CEL has come on about 5 times. The first time it came on, I took it to the dealer, and they pulled the P0300 and reset it. Another time, I pulled the code at RRE, P0300 and they reset it.

It came on about 3 times more, but after driving it around for about 300-400 miles, it eventually just reset itself, and went away. I know mitsu might be making a fix for this, or some ecu reflashes that are being offered might take care of this as well.

Overall:
I love my evo, and love driving it everyday!

Mods Performance/Nonperformance:
RRE tuned JIC
HKS Type 1 TT
GReddy Counterweighted shift knob
JDM 7 Tails
S2000 Antenna
Alpine 9815 Deck
TRC FM Transmitter 2way alarm

On the way:
HKS DP
RSR Catback